Patrick sticks to reasoned approach

Tuesday

Sep 14, 2010 at 12:01 AMSep 14, 2010 at 5:38 PM

By now, it's clear that Deval Patrick is not a stranger to Southeastern Massachusetts. This low-key governor always seems to be a thoughtful guy who knows us down here, and who has this quiet, reasoned approach to the issues.

By now, it's clear that Deval Patrick is not a stranger to Southeastern Massachusetts.

It's not just the commuter rail planning. Or the advocacy for better fisheries regulations. Or the approval for the Route 24 exit for a biomanufacturing park.

Or even the Fall River press conference Monday in support of Bristol District Attorney Sam Sutter's dangerousness hearings for gun crimes.

It's that this low-key governor — whether you agree with him or disagree — always seems to be a thoughtful guy who knows us down here, and who has this quiet, reasoned approach to the issues, whether they involve SouthCoast or beyond.

"We promised (rail), not for campaign reasons but because we see the value of it," Patrick told me last week.

He believes long-range rebuilding of transportation infrastructure is good for the entire state, he said.

The governor sat down with me for a short one-on-one interview just before dedicating the Azorean Whaleman Gallery at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on Friday.

Patrick talked about another matter on which he said he tried to make a decision based on the merits of the issue: allowing civilian flaggers instead of state police officers on some state highway projects, in order to save money.

He acknowledged he did not expect the vehement protests from police union supporters that now greet him at his re-election campaign stops.

"I wasn't looking to poke my finger in anybody's eye," he said. "It's just that (if) 49 other states get by with a blend of police details and civilian flaggers and save money, then why shouldn't we at a time like this?"

Patrick dismissed my question about whether he, like President Barack Obama, had strayed too far from the wish list of left-wing voters who are the Democratic Party's base.

"I'm proud to be a Democrat, but I'm not the governor of the Democrats," he said. "I'm the governor of the folks who voted for me and the folks who didn't — the ones who agreed with this or that policy choice and the ones who don't. That's the job."

I asked him if a man who tries to make decisions based on the right thing to do can be re-elected in an era of cable TV, talk radio and Internet politics.

"It's a big question," he said. "Do people want leadership by conviction or convenience?"

"The reason I ran in the first place is because I wanted leadership by conviction. And I talked about it; I was very clear about that."

But since he first ran in 2006, the governor has made serious image mistakes on things like Statehouse drapes and Cadillacs, and he's faced tough policy decisions on taxes and cuts to popular government programming like higher education and public safety.

So the governor is now parrying charges from his opponents that he's nothing but another Democratic tax increaser. He's parrying these charges even though the same opponents themselves have sometimes either raised taxes, or passed on costs to the politicians who followed them, or worse, to the next generation of state taxpayers.

Too much of contemporary politics, Patrick said, is about winning office and then passing on tough decisions to the next guy, passing on both the bills and the problems to the next generation of state residents.

He doesn't want to be another governor who just governs by polls, he said.

"If you just leave it to the polls, then you kick all kinds of cans down the road," he said.

Patrick said he takes the idea of generational responsibility — the idea that each of us in our time, is supposed to do what we can to leave it better for those who come behind us — very seriously.

"We owe it as candidates and as leaders to level with the public about what is behind those choices," he said.

"And not continuing to mislead people with the notion that if we cut taxes, there isn't something we have to give up."

That's the hard case Gov. Deval Patrick is making to the residents of Massachusetts.

Whether the citizens — who often seem to be saying they want none of the taxes and all of the government services — want to hear the message is another question.

We're going to find out the answer in November.

Contact Jack Spillane at jspillane@s-t.com

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